Pacific Business Review International
Volume 5 Issue 2 (August 2012)
23
Organising the Unorganised Sector: An ICT Enabled Logistics Model
in Favour of Cottage and Small Scale Industries in Northeast India.
DEEPJYOTI CHOUDHURY*
Northeast India is a geographically land-locked, covered ninety nine percent of its
boundary by foreign countries. Thus in spite of being blessed with a high potential
for development of resource-based and demand-based industries in the region, the
pace of industrialisation in Northeast had not been satisfactory. Village and cottage
industry in Northeast India constitutes an important part in the economy of this region.
As we all know that in a thickly populated country like India, Village and Cottage
industry is one of the dominating contributors for GDP and thus this industrially
backward region of the country can also largely contribute to the country's GDP
growth through properly leveraging the existing cottage and village industries.
Emphasis should also be given for promoting development and establishment of
new cottage industries, thereby removing the regional economic imbalances and
contributing all other benefits. But leverage and development of the industry can
only be acquired through diminishing the problems and issues arising out of sickness
in this industry. Here in this paper an attempt has been made to give a suggestive
business model which may support and enable to remove the industries' core issues
for sickness starting from sourcing of raw materials to delivery of finished products.
The model described in the paper is based on information communication technology
and supply chain logistics management and their impact on cottage industries'
product value chain. The paper also highlights about the organising and integration
of unorganised cottage industries.
Keywords: Cottage Industry, Information Communication Technology, Supply chain,
logistics
Introduction
India's North-eastern Region consists of eight states,
Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya,
Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura , occupying
262,179 square kilometres and with a population of 39
million (2001 census). Most accounts and discussions
about the Northeast point out its diversity in people,
plants, and animal life. The region is rich in natural
resources, especially water and forests, and there is a
feeling that it could potentially be one of the wealthiest
regions of India (World Bank,2008). Troubled by history
and geo-politics, the North East has remained one of
the most backward regions of the country. The trauma
of partition in 1947 not only took the region backwards
by at least a quarter of a century, but also placed hurdles
on future economic progress. It isolated the region,
sealed both land and sea routes for commerce and trade,
and severed access to traditional markets and the
gateway to the East and South-East Asia
(MDONER).The Partition of India in 1947 created
havoc for the North East. It became virtually landlocked,
surrounded by inhospitable neighbours. Even with
mainland India, the link was only 22 km through the
tenuous Siliguri corridor as against the 4,500 km long
international border. Traditional transportation routes rail, road and river, linking the Chittagong and Calcutta
ports, suddenly became unavailable and alternative
routes were prohibitively costly. To cite an example,
the distance between Agartala and Calcutta port is
1,700 km, whereas, earlier, it was just about 375 km
*Assistant Professor, Department of Business Administration, Assam University, Silchar, Assam, India
24
through Bangladesh. Such was the economics. The
result, therefore, was massive market disruption, which
North East still suffers (Madhav,J). Thus in spite of
being blessed with a high potential for development of
resource-based and demand-based industries in the
region, the pace of industrialisation in Northeast had
not been satisfactory. Instances of the early
industrialisation in northeast dates back before partition
of 1947, with the setting up of Tea industry in Assam
during the British era and later with the discovery of
OIL by the United states, the British started for
searching oil in Upper Assam part of the North eastern
India and they found oil which resulted in setting up of
oil refineries in those places.
In north eastern states, the agriculture is underdeveloped
and subsistence in nature, low industrialization of the
region and under development of basic infrastructure
has compelled the rural population to take up some
economic activities based on their natural/ traditional
skill. Das & Das (2011). In North Eastern Region of
India, thousands of small households industries are
operating in rural areas. These are all traditional
households industries and operating by some
communities and caste Das & Das (2011).
Before Independence, the present small scale industry
was meant to denote the village and the urban cottage
industry. This group included a variety of industries
ranging from manufacturing of Iron safes, locks,
carpets, marble jigs, baskets, hand-loom cloth and the
like. In fact, at that time the term 'cottage and Small
scale industries' was used in juxtaposition to large scale
industries, which were established under the British
patronage Sindhukumar (2010). Later on post
independence we saw number of policies and support
provided by the Government. However all these policy
initiative by the central as well as the state government
could not bring smile to the faces of artisan and
households businesses of NER. The policies that have
been taken till date for the development of small
households industries in the rural areas could not touch
Pacific Business Review International
the real sector Das & Das (2011).
Cottage and Small scale Industries of Northeast
India an overview
Cottage and small-scale industrial sector plays a
dominant role in the economic development of both
developed and developing countries. Small Scale,
Household, Cottage Industries are those industries
which are mostly labour pooling industry, caste and
community based. These industries are basically run
from the owner's house employing themselves or the
family members and are based on locally available
resources, less machinery and limited capital. The
definition of cottage and small industries went on
changing from time to time. According to the Fiscal
Commission (1949-50) "cottage industry is an industry
which is run either as whole- time or part-time
occupation with the full or partial help of the members
of the family". According to the Economic Commission
"cottage industries are those industries which are run
fully or partially with the help of family members".
According to the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
(MSME) Development Act of 2006, (India) a micro
enterprise is where the investment in plant and
machinery does not exceed twenty five lakh rupees. A
small enterprise is where the investment in plant and
machinery is more than twenty five lakh rupees but
does not exceed five crore rupees.
In both developed and developing countries cottage,
village and small industries play an important role as
regards to economic development. Those countries
which were once developing, the industrialisation grew
up around large number of cottage industries and later
on as they transformed to developed countries those
cottage and village industries still existed
which contributed a huge part towards equitable
distribution of national income, GDP growth,
employment generation and removing regional
imbalances. Indian economy is underdeveloped and
Northeast India being a underdeveloped part of
Volume 5 Issue 2 (August 2012)
underdeveloped nation, its vast resources are either
unutilized or underutilized. A major section of man power
is lying idle. The per-capita income is low. Capital is
shy and scarce and investment is lean. In this situation
of low capital and high human capital, the only answer
for betterment of this region is the development and
revival of the cottage, village and small industries.
Choice naturally has to be biased towards techniques
making use of capital-saving or labour-intensive
techniques.
In North East India thousands of small and rural
households industries are operating among village
communities and different caste. These industries are
based on local resources and traditional skills available
with the rural people of NE (e.g. cane and bamboo,
pottery industry, silk cloth making, brass metal and Bell
metal, Terracotta etc) Das & Das (2011).
If we consider arts and crafts of Northeast, starting
with Arunachal Pradesh, the principal industries are
forest based. Forest products, especially bamboo, are
vital resources. Saw mills, plywood and veneering mills,
rice mills, fruit preservation units, soap and candle
manufacturing, steel fabrication, oil expellers are in the
medium and small industrial sectors. Weaving is the
universal craft, highly coloured fabrics being made
largely by women. The multi coloured masks, fine
wood-carving, cane, bamboo and fibre works bear
eloquent testimony to the fine artistic temperament of
the people. There is a steady export market for Monpa
carpets, Adi skirts and Mishmi bags and shawls with a
view to develop the traditional handicrafts of the people.
The government has established a number of Cottage
Industries, Training-cum-production centres, where
local boys and girls are trained in various crafts to enable
them to earn their livelihood by practicing these crafts.
The craft centres are also helping the people in finding
markets for their products. Assam was traditionally
famous for its cottage industry, especially spinning and
weaving. Pat or pure silk production is essentially
confined to Assam. Assam produces about 10% of total
25
natural silk of India. Assam also produces Muga, the
golden silk. Assam is also the main producer of Eri or
Endi. Weaving is an important cottage industry of
Assam. It is a traditional industry which can be traced
back to very ancient times. There are about 7,00,000
looms in Assam, where majority are primitive foot
looms. Only some looms of Sualkuchi, used for
commercial production of silk cloth, are powered. Bellmetal work is a traditional cottage industry of Assam.
The products made of bell-metal are traditional plates,
cups, tumblers, pitchers, bowls, sarais (a tray with a
stand), dwarf pitchers, pots, hookahs and musical
instruments. Brass-work is also an important traditional
handicraft of Assam. Brass articles are produced not
only for day-to-day use, but also for interior decoration.
The total production of marketable finished goods
annually is about 300 tonnes. In Manipur, the weaving
industry is well developed and each household owns a
loom with the women busy in the creation of typically
unique native designs. The handloom industry is the
largest cottage industry in Manipur, with the finished
items often been exported. In Meghalaya there are
cottage industries like weaving, cotton ginning, spice
making, bamboo and cane works, tailoring and knitting.
Cottage industry and other small-scale industries play
important roles in Mizoram's economy. There has not
been any significant industrial development in the state
due to lack of raw materials. But there is scope of
industrial development from forests products. Thrust
areas for cottage industrial development in Mizoram
are Bamboo, Food processing, Hand looms &
handicrafts. The age old industry of Nagaland is cottage
industry which plays a vital role in the village's economy.
Cottage industries which deserve emphasis are,
weaving and dyeing, work in cane, and, work in wood,
black smithy, pottery and excavation of salt, pulp and
paper mill. Handloom is the single largest industrial
sector in Tripura and in terms of employment potential;
it is next only to agriculture. Almost one-fifth of the
total population is either partially or wholly depended
on this sector. From the time immemorial, Tripura is
26
known as a little place almost religiously devote to finest
experiments in art and crafts. Here, the nimble finger
of artisans with their glorious chisel played wonders
through the ages. From simple materials like cane
bamboo and wood, innumerable objects of magnificent
beauty are carved out every day, which are in use right
from cosmetic table to elegant drawing rooms, from
ordinary wall decoration to the more sophisticated field
of interior decoration. Some of the popular products of
handicrafts are room divider, Cane furniture, Table
lamps, Ashtray, Panely scroll etc. The Central and State
governments are, from time to time, facilitating the
promotion, development and enhancing the
competitiveness of micro, small and medium
enterprises. By way of development of skill in the
employees, management and entrepreneurs,
provisioning for technological up-gradation, providing
marketing assistance or infrastructure facilities and
cluster development of such enterprises with a view to
strengthening backward and forward linkages.
Common Sickness in Cottage and Small
Industries
Although the heritage of small and cottage industries
in Northeast India is very rich but these industries are
handicapped with innumerable difficulties. Ignorance,
illiteracy and conservative attitudes of the people
connected with these industries are standing in the way
of modernisation and expansion of cottage and village
industries, dearth of capital, dearth of institutional
financing, lack of training facilities, competition with
large scale industries, old and traditional means of
production etc. Among the main problems to be cited
in the paper is the problem of marketing of the cottage
industry products, high cost of sourcing of raw materials
and thereby increase in cost of production. As described
in the 'cottage and village industry report' of the planning
commission of India, the marketing problems of village
and cottage industries arise from two sources: First,
exploitation by middlemen in their traditional markets
and second, lack of a marketing organisation which
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will allow them to penetrate new markets. It is assumed
that cottage and village industries cater to the demands
of the local market only but quality goods also have
country wide attractions. The artisans sell their product
to either local clients or in the nearby hut or by hawking
system. The option for catering to the urban market is
through established traders and to the distant market
whosoever wishes to do is through commissioned agents
or the middle men. The skilled artisans cannot hold the
stock of goods to exploit the festive markets or any
other exploitable situations. Because of dearth of capital
he has to sell the products as and when he produces in
whatever return he receives. Artisan cooperative,
KVIC, The Handloom Corporations etc are some
organizations supporting marketing for the products but
these organizations depend very much on mutual trust
and honesty in the community and their success depends
on good management but these conditions are rarely
fulfilled. There is a need of institutional arrangements
or departmental support, so that the artisan may get a
better return.
Scarcity of raw materials is next major problem faced
by cottage and small scale industries. Whatever raw
material they get is of poor quality and higher price.
The cottage and village industries require raw materials
both from local and distant geographic location. But as
we all know that village and cottage industries are
scattered, unorganised and behave as a small units of
production compared to the large scale ones ,as a result
their bargaining power is too low. The demand for raw
material of an individual unit is small, even on the basis
of an annual demand. The cottage and small sector
has to deal with the retail dealer for its requirements
and cannot take advantage of the low price seasonal
purchases; whereas the large sector cannot only get
its raw materials at wholesale prices, but being a largeconsumer, can demand still more favourable rates from
the trade and get it.
The artisans have to pay more for the purchase of the
Volume 5 Issue 2 (August 2012)
raw materials in competition to those from organised
groups. Also because of weak financial capability of
the artisans, they cannot purchase bulk quantity of raw
materials at the time when prices are low. For some or
the other reason, if the artisans fails to sell a bulk
quantity of product, he is not in a position to purchase
raw materials. Their comes the role of middle man
money lenders who tries to exploit the artisans in every
sense by purchasing low cost raw materials and selling
at high cost to the artisans. In view of the
predominance of middlemen in the raw material
markets, the artisans find it almost impossible to
purchase the raw materials straight from the growers.
And on the other side the growers of raw materials
are also debtors of the middle man and are obliged to
sell their produce to them. Thus in the both directions
the middle man captures the cream of profit.
These problems result in high cost of production. Thus
a simple product produced from the cottage industry
will cost much higher than the same product produced
by the large scale sector. And here comes the consumer
behaviour of choosing substitute product at lower price
than the cottage products. Say for example, if an artisan
wants to make an eco-friendly bamboo-cane bodied
pen. With his traditional means of production and old
machineries he can at best produce 10 pens in a day.
These leads to low demand of raw materials from the
artisans and problems thereon as cited earlier in this
article , again due to high price of raw material, his
cost of production per pen will rise up to that extent
that the customers will better opt for a low cost substitute
plastic ball point pen.
Need of the Hour
Though lots of policies, framework, and institutions
came forward from the side of the government, yet
these could not bring smiles on the faces of artisans
and cottage industry owners. Thus organizing the
unorganised sector and evolving specific means to
tackle the problems of cottage and village industries is
the crying need of the hour.
27
Objective
The purpose of this study is to present a suggestive
business model which may support and enable to
remove the industries' core issues for sickness starting
from sourcing of raw materials to delivery of finished
products. The model described in the paper is based
on information communication technology and supply
chain logistics management. The paper also highlights
about the organising and integration of unorganised
cottage industries.
Methodology
The study is based on a descriptive approach to describe
how information communication technology and supply
chain logistics management can support the cottage
and small industries. As such all information is secondary,
achieved through studies of relevant Literature primarily
the websites on cottage industries and supply chain
management.
Defining Logistics and Supply Chain
Management
The Supply Chain Council (1997) uses the definition:
"The supply chain - a term increasingly used by logistics
professionals-encompasses every effort involved in
producing and delivering a final product, from the
supplier's supplier to the customer's customer. Four
basic processes-plan, source, make, deliver-broadly
define these efforts, which include managing supply
and demand, sourcing raw materials and parts,
manufacturing and assembly, warehousing and
inventory tracking, order entry and order management,
distribution across all channels, and delivery to the
customer." Supply chain is a network of manufacturers
and service providers that work together to convert
and move goods from the raw materials stage through
to the end-user. These manufacturers and service
providers are linked together through physical flows,
information flows and monetary flows Bozarth (2006).
Lummus & Vokurka (1999) provides a summary
definition of the supply chain as: all the activities involved
in delivering a product from raw material through to
28
the customer including sourcing raw materials and parts,
manufacturing and assembly, warehousing and
inventory tracking, order entry and order management,
distribution across all channels, delivery to the customer,
and the information systems necessary to monitor all
of these activities. Supply chain management
coordinates and integrates all of these activities into a
seamless process. It links all of the partners in the chain
including departments within an organization and the
external partners including suppliers, carriers, third-party
companies, and information systems providers.
Supply Chain Management is the design and
management of seamless, value added processes across
organizational boundaries to meet the real needs of the
end customers Fawcett (2008). Supply chain
management consists of developing a strategy to
organize, control and motivate the resources involved
in the flow of services and materials within the supply
Pacific Business Review International
chain Krajewski (2007). As defined by Ellram &
Copper (1993), supply chain management is "an
integrating philosophy to manage the total flow of a
distribution channel from supplier to ultimate customer".
Logistics management and supply chain management
are to a large extent over lapping. Logistics is the
process of strategically managing the procurement
movement and storage of materials, parts and finished
inventory (and the related information flows) through
the organization and its marketing channels in such a
way that current and future profitability are maximized
through the cost-effective fulfilment of orders.
According to the Council of Logistics Management "the
process of planning, implementing and controlling
efficient, effective flow and storage of goods, services
and related information from point of origin to point of
consumption for the purpose of conforming to customer
requirements" can be considered as logistics
management.
Fig 7.1: Nike Supply chain. Source: Laudon and laudon, "Managing the digital firm" (2007)
Volume 5 Issue 2 (August 2012)
29
The figure 7.1 explains a simple illustration for Nike's
supply chain for sneakers where there is a flow of raw
materials upstream through tier 1, tier 2, tier 3 suppliers
and ultimately reach Nike and then the manufactured
products travel downstream from Nike to distributors,
retailers and finally end customers. Nike's contract
manufacturers are its primary suppliers, the suppliers
of soles, eyelets, uppers and laces are the secondary
(Tier 2) suppliers and suppliers to these suppliers are
tertiary (Tier 3) suppliers.
demand analysis, forecasting, planning and controlling
operations, materials management etc. The third party
will keep their profit margin giving due profit to the
cottage industries.
The ICT Enabled Supply Chain Logistics Model
for Cottage and Small Industries
Regional Centres: These centres will be located at
different regions. The criteria for selection of Regional
centres may be on the basis of division of the
geographical area, state capitals, large towns and cities
in the region and also on the basis of cottage industry
clusters. The regional centres will be in direct touch
with the cottage industries.
Cottage and small industries are illiterate as regards to
overall management theories and practices and their
practical applications. Here according to the model, the
unorganised cottage industries will act only as the
workers and manufacturers and rest functions of
management like planning, directing, controlling and
organising everything are being done by a third party.
The third party may be either from Government side
or private organisation who will implement the model.
This third party organisation is responsible for
managerial activities like raw material sourcing,
Marketing and promotion of the products, delivery of
finished products to end customers and all the supply
chain and logistics management of the flow of materials
and goods both upward and downward the supply chain.
The third party is also responsible for market analysis,
RC
If we consider the large geographical area of Northeast
India, there can be two types of third party. First, there
will be Regional centres located in different regions of
the area and second,a Hub Situated at centrally located
place in the area.
The Hub : The hub is responsible for all the managerial
activities and analysis like market analysis, demand
analysis, forecasting, planning and controlling
operations, materials management etc. And apart from
these, Hub will perform all the activities same as the
regional centres but Hub will be in direct touch with
the Regional centres.
The model is like a tree structure whose Trunk is the
hub, branches are the regional centres, and leaves are
the cottage industries.
RC
RC
RC
H
U
B
RC
RC
Fig 8.1:The ICT enabled supply
chain logistics model for Cottage
and Small Industries
Source: Author
RC: regional centres
Represents flow of information,
goods and raw materials
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Now let us break the Figure 8.1 into a single Regional centre (RC) to find out what exactly happens in the regional
centres.
HUB
REGIONAL CENTRE
Order pl acing/co llection
centre
(Raw material & FG*)
Collecti on
Centre
(Raw material, FG*)
Distri bution centre
(Local Fini shed
goods,local raw
materials)
CI
Level A
Ti er 2
Supplier
Raw material
Order placing
centre
Ti er 2
Supplier
REGIONAL CENTRE
T ier 1
Suppli er
Raw materials
collection centre
Inventor y Products
Inventory Raw ma terials
Finished goods
collection centre
Raw Material
Distribution centre
Level B
T ier 2
Suppli er
CI
CI
CI
Product
Distribution Centre
O rder Collection
Centre
Level C
REGIONAL CENTRE
REGIONAL CENTRE
Wholesaler
s
Retailers
Customers
Figure 8.2: Regional centre in the ICT enabled supply chain logistics model for Cottage and Small Industries
Source : Author
CI represents the unorganised cottage industries
FG* represents the finished goods from other
regional centres
According to the model, figure 8.2, a regional centre
connected to a Hub has three levels of activities, Level
A, B and C. Regional centre are connected to the Hub,
the suppliers, the wholesalers and the cottage industries.
For better understanding let us assume that the HUB
is located at Guwahati in the Northeast and regional
centres spread across the region in smaller cities and
state capitals Shillong, Agartala, Aizawl, Itanagar,
Imphal, Kohima, Silchar, Dibrugarh, Dhubri etc.
Volume 5 Issue 2 (August 2012)
Level A describes the activities of three different
centres involved. Order placing and collection centre,
places order to the Hub for those raw materials which
are not available locally but required for the cottage
industries in that locality. It also places order for finished
goods stored in Hub's inventory for sale in its region.
This centre also collects order given by the Hub for
finished goods from cottage industry of that locality to
be distributed to other regions. Collection centre collects
raw materials from the Hub for the orders that were
placed and also collects finished goods of other regional
centre via Hub. The distribution centre distributes or
transports the locally available raw materials to the Hub
for use in other regional centre cottage industries and
also transports the local finished products to the Hub
for sale in other regions in accordance with the order
collected from the Hub earlier by order collection centre.
Level B has four centres, starting with Raw material
order placing centre which places order for raw
materials to the local suppliers and the raw material
collection centre collects these raw materials as per
the order placed. These raw materials collected are
transferred to the local cottage industries with the help
of raw materials distribution centre and also transferred
to the other regional centres through Distribution centre
of Level A. The Finished goods collection centre collects
the end products from the local cottage industries and
transfer it to the Distribution centre in Level A for sale
in other regional centre via Hub and also transferred
desired number of finished goods to the Product
distribution centre in Level C.
31
cluster and the regional centre and remain dependent
on the regional centre for both raw materials and
delivery of finished products. Inventory of finished goods
and raw materials will be stored respectively in
Inventory products and Inventory raw materials. (Fig.
on next page)
In figure 8.3, Level A of the Hub works quite similar
but reverse to a regional centre. Level A describes the
activities of three different centres involved. Order
placing and collection centre, places order to the
regional centre for the raw materials of that particular
region or locality which are required for the cottage
industries in other region. This centre also places order
for finished goods from the regional centre. The Hub
at the same time collects order from the regional centres
for other raw materials and finished goods that are
stored in inventory. The collection centre collects raw
material and finished goods from the regional centres.
And the distribution centre transports the specific raw
material and specific finished products to specific
regional centre as per order made.
Level C is composed of two centre where the Product
distribution centre distributes the finished goods both
from other regional centre and local finished goods to
the wholesalers. Order collection centre collects the
order of products and pass it to the desired centres.
Level B of the Hub works with two centre viz. Order
placing centre and raw material collection centre
specially meant for those special supplies which cannot
be fed by regional centres. The hub remains connected
to these suppliers for supply of materials and store it in
Inventory of raw materials and from there it will be
distributed to other regions by distributing centre of level
A. The inventory raw material present in the Hub will
stock different raw materials coming from different
regional centres and also from direct suppliers. The
inventory products will keep stock of all the finished
products from different regional centre. All the
distribution centres in the Hub will be fed with raw
materials and products from these "inventory raw
materials" and "inventory products".
The wholesalers accordingly pass the different products
to retailer and ultimately to end customers.
The unorganised cottage industries act as an integrated
Level C in Hub is different from Level C in the regional
centre. In regional centre level c have Product
distribution centre and order collection centre
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RC
HUB
HUB
Order
Placing/ Col lecti on
Centre
(Ra w materials ,FG*)
Ti er 2
Supplier
Distribution Centre
(Raw material, Finished
goods)
and FG*)
Level A
Ti er 2
Supplier
Ti er 2
Supplier
Collection centre
(Raw materials
Order placing
centre
Inventory Raw materials
Raw materials
collection centre
Invent ory Products
Tier 1
Supplier
Level B
Product
Distribution
Centre
Order Collection
Centre
Level C
E-commerce
Website
Owned/Collaborated
End customers
Figure 8.3: A HUB in the ICT enabled supply chain logistics model for Cottage and Small Industries
Source : Author
RC represents regional centres spread across the region.
FG* represents finished goods
Volume 5 Issue 2 (August 2012)
specifically meant for wholesalers, but in the case of
Hub, there is an introduction of an e-commerce website
which will serve as a e-market place for customers
across the country or globe. This e-commerce website
will enable a good promotion of the cottage industry
products across boundaries and region, where the
customers can directly purchase from home being
online and order will be delivered to their specific
address. This ecommerce website may work exactly
similar to other existing websites like Homeshop18.com
or ebay.com. There are two choices either the Hub
can collaborate with any one of the e-commerce website
or build an e-commerce website on its own. The only
fact is that customers will order via online to the
website and Website Company will pass this
information to the Hub. The hub at the same time will
deliver the finished products to the website company
in accordance with the orders and the website company
will deliver the product to end customers.
Conclusive Discussion and Further scope of
Research
As we are aware that region which is not blessed with
large-scale industries, cottage and small industries can
take the role for economic development. Thus if a region
really wants to develop economically, cannot neglect
these industries. The study is only theoretical and its
practical application is yet to be tested. The model
described in the paper is at a very initial stage of literary
work and hence lots of improvements and modifications
are welcome. There is a large scope of further study
and research on the following model and area. Though
the sickness in this industry is not only related with
sourcing of materials and marketing of the products
but also related with some other major factors. The
model if implemented will have lots of benefits to the
cottage industries by avoiding middle men money
lenders and middle men sellers, who always exploit the
artisans. It will also benefit by providing smooth delivery
of products to the customers and better customer,
supplier intimacy and all other benefits reviving from
the sickness in the industry.
33
Reference
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to Operations and Supply chain Management, New
Delhi,Pearson Education
Council of Logistics Management,retrieved from http:/
/www.asianclm.com/index.htm on May 2012
Das, R. & Das, A.K. (2011). Industrial Cluster: An
Approach for Rural Development in North East
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